StarCrossed
by No Satisfaction
Summary: Admist a feud between Interpol, the Cooper Gang, and the Fox family, Sly and Carmelita will find love in each other that will lead to several unforseen circumstances that may just claim their lives.
1. The Characters

**Star-Crossed**

Love conquers everything, except stab wounds and poisonings.

**Characters of this story:**

(not all characters of the play will make an appearance)

Romeo-Sly Cooper

Benvolio-Panda King

Abram-Dimitri

Balthasar-Murray

Juliet-Carmelita Fox

Capulet-Juan Fox

Lady Capulet

Nurse-Alexia

Tybalt-Tybalt Longbow (this time he's Carmelita's cousin)

Sampson-Julio Fox (Carm's brother)

Gregory-Gregorio Fox

Escalus-Chief Barkley

County Paris-McBride

Mercutio-Tanner

Friar Lawrence-Bentley

Friar John-Penelope


	2. No Talk of Peace

I. I

**No Talk of Peace**

Paris, France. A large city featuring almost every landmark that the world is familiar with; Tour Eiffel (Eiffel Tower), Place de la Concord, Champs-Elysees, Notre Dame cathedral, Centre Pompidou, the Louvre, l'Arche de Triomphe, la Cite des Sciences et l'Industrie, and the Musee d'Orsay. Also home at were two very famous families. The Foxes, a major family with Interpol, and their arch rivals, the Cooper Gang. The rival all started when Captain Juan Fox was assigned to a mister Cooper. And the rivalry has since continued down to Cooper's next of kin: Sly Cooper and his gang.

On a day like any other, two Latin foxes, both of the Fox household, Julio Fox, and his brother Gregorio Fox, where walking down the famous Champs-Elysees.

"So Gregorio, how's it going between you and Rosaline?" Julio asked with a smirk.

"It's okay, she can be a little suffocating sometimes, but nothing special," Gregorio answered. "Dad still doubts I can handle such a commitment I'm maintaining."

"Well, I doubt any of them Cooper Gang scum can hold on to a relationship for more than a few days," Julio replied.

"Yeah, those Cooper Gang scum are real jackasses," Gregorio said. "Speaking of which, jackass at one o'clock."

"It's that idiot Dimitri," Julio smirked. "That ass is nothing but a friggin' fashion disaster! So thus, I'll flip the bird."

"You CRAZY?" Gregorio whispered hoarsely.

But it was too late. Julio had his middle finger up and pointed towards Dimitri, who immediately noticed it and angrily strode over to the two foxes. Since Julio and Gregory weren't police, they weren't legal to do anything about their enemy lawfully.

"Do you flip moi off?" Dimitri growled.

"Why…hold on," Julio said, leaning over to Gregorio and whispered a question. "Will the law support me if I say yes?"

"No, it won't because technically, you started it," Gregorio whispered back.

"Then no you fashionably ugly moron," Julio smiled, thinking he had just avoided a catastrophe, only to have Gregorio slap his hand on his forehead.

"WHAT? LET'S DANCE!" Dimirti yelled, bringing his fist back, only to have it held back by someone else.

"Crap, Panda King," Gregorio muttered.

"Part fools of the Fox household, for I wish not a fight," Panda King said, stepping in front of a huffing Dimitri.

"Oh really?" someone else said.

Everyone turned in the direction of the voice, to see another fox. His name was Tybalt Longbow. He was cousin of the two brother Foxes. Tybalt was cracking his knuckles. Tybalt was rather short tempered. A bomb waiting to go off at anything outside his family and friends.

"Well, well, well," Tybalt scoffed. "It looks like some members of the Cooper Gang have shown up for their death."

"I just keep the peace," Panda King said, his voice wavering from building rage. "So either fight dishonorably, or live another day by parting us and leave us be."

"Oh, well what's this talk of peace?" Tybalt scoffed. "I hat the word 'peace' almost I hate Coopers and their pals. May your leader Sly burn in hell."

"You NEVER talk of Sly Cooper that way!" Panda King yelled, releasing his anger, and balling up his fist into a flaming death maker.

With that, Panda chopped at Tybalt, burning bits of his clothing. Dimitri leaped at Julio, who was caught off guard. The fight grew into smashing tables and chairs. At one point, Panda King turned a few tables into bonfires. Things went from bad to worse, when Interpol arrived. Among them was Chief Barker.

"Rebellious subjects, enemies to peace," he yelled. "Listen to me! (he shot off a shotgun, grabbing everyone's attention.)

Instantly, everyone except Dimitri, was arrested. The lounge lizard managed to escape down an open manhole. Then everyone was carted off to Interpol, not before Barkley made his threat.

"Next time you beasts disturb the peace of my city streets again, Foxes involved will serve prison duty, but Cooper Gang members will be EXECUTED!"

Panda King looked shocked, and Tybalt, Gregorio, and Julio looked pleased with themselves. As Panda was driven off, he couldn't help but feel that Barkley was yelling out "Where the hell are they going?"

"You need to control your temper better," Murray said, pulling off his police cap and looking back from the driver's seat. Next to him the passenger seat was Penelope.

"For your sake, Sly better not have been in that fray," she said in an emotionless voice.

"Relax, Sly I heard was at Parc de la Villette," Panda King replied, cooling down.

The police car pulled up to an alley and out from one door came Bentley. He had recently developed what he called a 'jumper chip' that was now installed in his spinal cord so that he could have full use of his legs. But that doesn't mean that he's stopped using his wheelchair. Today, he was on his feet.

"Panda, get inside," he muttered, opening the back door and taking off Panda King's handcuffs.

Bentley then jumped into the backseat and followed by Guru. "Take me to him," Bentley sighed.

Sly was sitting near the music hall at the Parc de la Villette, writing in a journal, and occasionally looking up to watch the way the sun hit the mirror surface of the Geode IMAX in front of the Cite des Sciences et l'Industrie. Unknowingly, a cop car pulled up on the outskirts of the park and out came Guru. Guru was always the group psychiatrist, since Bentley tended to be too stubborn to make for a compromise not on his part.

gibberish Guru said.

"Hey Guru," Sly sighed. "Was that Bentley driving off?"

gibberish

"I just got the blues okay," Sly said. "Come on, lets walk."

gibberish

"Alright, alright, I'll tell you," Sly caved. "I'm just, well, put it this way. The only woman I've known other than Carmelita and Penelope would be my mom. I've seen how happy my parents were together before Clockwerk sent them riding on the Grim Reaper's moped. And I'm seeing all these people so happy together. Enjoying that that they have someone to intimately share their life with. And all I see for me is a lonely raccoon thief who'll likely never find the woman right for me. What's eating you?"

gibberish

"I'm guessing that the fight started with Julio flipping off Dimitri, then calling the lizard a poorly dressed jackass, right?" Sly weakly smiled.

gibberish

"Thanks Guru," Sly said, patting Guru on the head while he looked at the view of the decommissioned submarine Argonaute sitting in the middle of the park. "Maybe there is someone for me yet."

* * *

A/N Next Chapter will be put up after at least three reviews, but if I'm tired of waiting (I'm very impatient) I'll put it up. And please, no flames. 


	3. The Invitations

I. II

**The Invitations**

Meanwhile, not too far from Parc de la Villette, was the Fox family household. It was large mansion, but nothing eye catching though. The head of the household was a Juan Fox, who had chased down Sly's father. The Foxes had connections, including Chief Barkley, and the vice-president. Among these connections was Juan's friend, Joseph McBride.

"Relax McBride," Juan sighed, sitting back in his desk chair. "The Cooper Gang, if found will be sentenced to death in combination with reckless behavior in public areas and their crimes of the past."

"Pity you retired Juan," McBride said. "You probably would have captured Sly Cooper, and get the chance to be his executioner."

"Yeah, I miss clubbing meatheads with a nightstand," Juan sighed.

"So how 'bout we talk of romance shall we?" McBride grinned.

McBride was captain in Interpol, and a rich one at that. He was young, in his twenties, and was found rather dashing by his female co-workers. But he always had his sight set on someone else.

"Joseph, we don't live in Shakespeare's time," Juan commented. "Back then, I would of set her up with you, but my darling Carmelita chooses who she wants. If you want her, you got to romance her."

"Then romance her I will," McBride smirked. "Where is the spitfire anyway?"

"She's at Interpol," Juan replied, his voice changing to show that he was annoyed by McBride's 'spitfire' comment. "And shouldn't you be at Interpol too?"

"I got the day off sir," McBride said.

"Good, then you can help me prepare for my party," Juan cheerily said.

"Party?"

"Yeah, the Foxes haven't thrown a ritzy costume party since twenty years ago," Juan said, turning to Gregorio. "Oh, Gregorio, could you go about the city and hand the people on the list these invitations, I made some extras incase you lose 'em. Now get!"

"Right sir," Gregorio said, running off, but not before taking a stack of papers from his father.

"So McBride, care to join me here for the party?" Juan said, looking back to McBride.

"Sure, why not?" McBride answered with a smile.

Sly was sitting on the park bench, gathering up more of his thoughts. The Guru had left, and Murray could be seen coming up the pathway. Meanwhile, Gregorio drove by the park at high speed in his convertible. Paying more attention to the road, he failed to notice one of the invitations from the stack of papers fly out of the car, where it was carried aloft by the slight breeze.

"Hey Murray," Sly sighed.

"Well, Bentley's pissed off with Dimitri," Murray commented.

"Because he started the fight?" Sly asked.

"No, because the idiot criticized Bentley on his language, said he wasn't speaking 'cool' enough," Murray replied.

"Honestly, that self-obsessed…huh?" Sly yelped as a sheet of paper plastered itself to his face.

Taking it off and reading it, he cocked his eyebrows and gave a cheeky smile.

"I know what'll cheer me up," Sly said. "Gate crashing the Foxes ritzy costume party."

"You're crazy, you know that?" Murray said.

"Well hello, I guess I am, but imagine all the fun of partying right underneath Juan Fox's nose," Sly replied. "Besides, I'm sure Tanner will be there since he's brother to the vice-president and of course, the Foxes are connected to the vice-president."

"Fine, you wanna go, leave me out of it," Murray huffed, his back to Sly.

"I'm sure there'll be a buffet or something…" Sly smirked, walking away.

"I'm in," Murray said. "What time we go?"

"Tomorrow at seven," Sly said. "And we must keep this from Bentley. If he found out I'm going to a party crawling with cops and government figures, he'll probably turn his crossbow on himself!"

"Is it just us?" Murray asked.

"Yeah, when's the last time we ever hung out," Sly said. "Usually it's Bentley and I or all three of us."

"Well, it's getting dark, I'm heading home, need a lift?" Murray asked, looking up at the sky.

"I'll walk home, see you there," Sly replied.

Sly leaned against a railing, looking down into the moat that surrounded the Cite des Sciences et l'Industrie.

"So Carmelita's parents are throwing ball huh?" he whispered to himself. "This should be fun!"


	4. Marriage a Dream Not Dreamt

I. III

**Marriage a Dream not Dreamt**

Inspector Carmelita Fox was in her office, once again looking over a copy of Sly's record, not because she thought she might find anything, this was probably the millionth time she read over it, but because she was bored. The Cooper Gang had been silent for less than a few months, ever since they managed to amazingly sneak out all of the contents of the Cooper Vault under Interpol's nose. Likely had it stashed in a new vault. She then gave a loud groan, showing that she bored out of her skull. At least the party her dad was throwing tonight would keep her busied. She tossed the Cooper File back into one of her filing cabinets and looked out the window. And then there was a knock on her door.

"Hey Alexia," Carmelita said, not looking up at her best friend and partner.

"How's it going?" Alexia asked, laying down on the couch.

"Bored enough to play Russian Roulette with five out of six chambers loaded," Carmelita commented.

There was another knock on the door and in came a much older fox woman. Carmelita's mother; Maria Fox.

"Alexia, could you excuse us for a moment, I'd like to talk to my daughter," she said in a cheery voice.

"I'll leave you two alone now," Alexia said, exiting the office.

"Mom, it's your day off, shouldn't you be helping dad with the party?" Carmelita asked.

"Well, actually, I wanted to talk to you about something," Maria said. "And Alexia, I know your listening, it's frosted glass, not solid wood!"

A silhouette in the glass disappeared.

"Anyway dear, you're at a nice age, and I'd expect from you a nice man in your life," Maria began. "And what comr to talk of is marriage."

"Mom, for me, marriage is a dream I dream not of," Carmelita said flatly. She was always annoyed when her parents brought up Carmelita dating and marrying.

"Well, consider it Carmelita," Maria said. "I've seen women here at the office who are younger than you who are happy mothers. To cut further to the chase, Captain Joseph McBride seeks out your love…"

"You sure he just doesn't want me in his bed?" Carmelita scoffed.

"CARMELITA!" Maria scolded.

"Look mom," Carmelita defended. "It's just that I'm married to my work, I don't have the time, energy, or commitment for marrying some strutting peacock that dad likes."

"Look, that man is no peacock, he's like one of us, a fox," Maria said. "At least answer me this, could you accept McBride's love?"

Carmelita looked up at her mother, her eyes explaining that she was very much annoyed. Then she looked away back out towards the Eiffel Tower and answered.

"I'll see if I could, but not to see if I will," she said.

Maria then left without saying a word. Carmelita sighed and sat back in her chair, and then once again pulled out her file on Sly Cooper.


	5. Gate Crashers

I. IV

**Gate Crashers**

Sunset had come to Paris. Waiting on the outskirts of la Parc de la Villette were Sly and Murray in disguise. Sly was dressed as a knight in shining armor and Murray was a race car driver.

"So when will Tanner arrive?" Murray asked. "I don't want to have to walk all the way back home, 'cause he agreed to pick us up here and drop us off a few blocks from the hideout."

"Relax Mur," Sly said. "Tanner should be here any…"

Just then, a black Jaguar convertible pulled up and out came dashing cavalier.

"Sly dude!" Tanner yelled.

"Hey Tanner!" Sly said, hi-fiving Tanner.

"Ready for the party?" Tanner asked.

"Oh yeah!" Murray said.

"Though I must admit I'm having second thoughts about this," Sly weakly said.

"WHA?" Tanner yelped in disbelief. "Not afraid of the lion's den are ya?"

"No, it's just that there was this odd dream that seemed to focus on the part…" Sly began, looking down on the ground.

"NAW!" Tanner sarcastically commented, swishing his hand at Sly. "You've been visited by that blasted Queen Mab chick who likes to go around and screw with people in their sleep by granting them odd dreams. For example, Murray probably had a dream about riding a motorcycle naked and going off a ramp and into a giant blueberry pie as big as Place de la Concorde."

"How'd you know?" Murray yelled as if in horror.

"You just told me," Tanner said, grinning like a jackass. "Queen Mab is about the size of the little stone you find on rings, with a carriage made from a walnut shell and is pulled by bout six flies that are whipped by a gnat who is the coach driver. She goes around, granting her little faerie dust about onto the faces of her sleeping clients and gives man dreams of things they've never dreamt before…"

"Tanner, are you on any medication that you forgot to take today?" Sly questioned.

"Maybe," Tanner said. Then there was an awkward silence. "Maybe we should go to the party."

"Yes let's!" Murray yelled, hopping shotgun into the Jaguar while Sly sat in the back seat.

And then the Jaguar sped off, heading towards the Fox residence, and taking Sly further along a fateful path to destiny.


	6. True Love at First Sight

I. V

**True Love at First Sight**

Tanner pulled up to the Fox household in his Jaguar and everyone exited and headed for the entrance to the home. Sly was as nervous as hell seeing as he didn't have anything covering his face unlike 'The Murray' who had a racing helmet. At the door was the big man himself: Juan Fox. Sly gave a nervous swallow as he came up to the ex-Interpol chief.

"Bonjour Monsieur Fox," he said flawlessly, showing no hint of him not French nor nervous.

"Bonjour Monsieur, huh?" Juan said.

"Peroco," Sly said.

"I don't remember you on the list," Juan said.

Sly froze over inside. If he didn't come up with an explanation in three seconds, he was screwed.

"They're friends of mine," Tanner said, shaking hands with Juan. "I hope you don't mind."

"Of course not Mr. Tanner" Juan said. "The more the merrier! Go on in."

The gala that Mr. Fox was throwing wasn't in the house itself, but in the backyard. Despite now many routes to escape by, Sly was still very much nervous seeing how he was surrounded by enough people who could legally shoot him in the head first, ask questions later, that had he been someone who was weaker than him in many ways would pee themselves. He decided to walk around despite the dancing that was going on. Murray had already found the buffet, and Tanner was off somewhere else. And then he saw her.

Sly looked up towards the elevated patio and there was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his life coming down the stairs. His jaw simply dropped.

"My word," he whispered to himself. "Carmelita…she's just too…beautiful. She never was as beautiful as this. Had I not loved her before…" he paused to think about what he was about to say. "I love her."

He couldn't help himself to walk up to her to ask for a dance, but then again, wouldn't she suspect something when a mysterious raccoon gentleman were to ask her for a dance as if just like at Rajan's party. And everyone knows what happened there. So he backed off, only to watch as someone grabbed Carmelita and started dancing with her. He immediately recognized who it was. Captain Joseph McBride, top candidate for head of the Paris Interpol office and Juan Fox's best friend. He was about Carmelita's age too. Sly couldn't feel but somewhat angry at how she seemed to be forced to bear with dancing with a superior who was smiling like a jackass. So he just went into the house and went to use the bathroom.

He splashed water across his face and dried himself off.

"Of course there's no way of Carmelita liking that guy," he reassured himself, and then frowned. "At least I hope."

He then left the washroom and headed back to the yard, only to find Carmelita running in, no doubt trying to get away from McBride. So he leaned against the wall and looked like he was pondering about something.

"Like I'm ever gonna love that moron," Carmelita grumbled. She turned to a mirror to look at herself when she saw Sly. "Hello." She said to herself, turning to a rather bewildered and somewhat sad raccoon.

"Is there something wrong?" she said, finding the mysterious raccoon familiar, but didn't mention it.

"Oh, nothing, just thinking," Sly replied, flashing a quick smile. "Would you care to dance?"

Carmelita was taken aback. It was practically like at Rajan's party. And it ended with Sly using her as a distraction while his friends ripped off the Clockwerk wings in the middle of a crowded ballroom. But that face, she was curious. And she could tell by the eyes, there was nothing dangerous or despicable about him.

"Sure, Mister…" she said.

"Peroco, Sylvester Peroco," Sly answered.

The two ended up taking a position on a balcony (Why there? Don't ask me.). And then they broke into a lovely tango. Though there was little dialogue throughout the time they danced, things got animated towards the end. Sly dipped Carmelita way low to the ground, and the two looked at each other in the eyes.

"I must admit Ms. Fox," Sly said. "You have very beautiful eyes."

"Why thank you," she replied.

Suddenly the two's face got too close and they kissed. Not some big kiss, but a simple peck on the lips. Nothing special, but Carmelita quickly woke up mentally. She knew those lips. After what happened a few years ago, she still could remember them. Could it be a coincidence. NO.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"Someone you should know very well," Sly replied.

Carmelita looked away for a second and looked back at the stranger to find him gone, and in her hair was the Cooper Gang calling card.

"COOPER!" she hissed in anger, only to quickly end up blushing and touching her lips. "Why is it always the attractive guys who seem to be on the wrong side of the law?"

* * *

Sorry for any confusion. I accidentally added this chapter instead of the previous. Once again, sorry for any confusion. Next chapter will be chapter one of Part 2 


	7. Escape to the Lion's Den

II. I

**Escape to the Lion's Den**

Sly regrouped with Tanner and Murray, who were waiting for him in the Jaguar. Tanner looked exhausted and Murray looked like he was either going to puke or something equally disgusting. As he unwillingly sat back in the back seat of the convertible, he failed to notice a certain Inspector Fox watching him get away.

"Damn you Cooper" she growled.

She didn't catch the other two occupants of the car nor de she get a good look at the license plate. Figuring this was a lost cause from the beginning, she realized she was tired and got into her red sportscar, but not before saying goodbye to her parents, and headed home.

"So Sly, what were you doing the whole time," Tanner asked.

"Met a girl," Sly replied.

"Really? What's her name?" Murray asked.

"I'm not telling," Sly replied.

"Come off it Sly," Tanner said. "Chances are you'll never see her again."

"I always see her," Sly said.

"You twisted little raccoon," Tanner smirked, not realizing who he was talking about.

"Well, I think I'll go see her," Sly said, shifting in his seat.

"This late?" Tanner asked. "No way, I'm taking you and Murray back to your place, hell, Murray looks like he's eaten something bad."

"Guys, here's a lesson," Murray weakly said. "Never eat raspberries." He then clutched his gut, maintaining that distict expression when someone is holding back on their bowel movements.

"Guys, I got to deliver a package and the package can't wait!" he yelped.

"Oh, for the love…" Tanner said. "HEY!"

"See ya!" Sly said, jumping out of the car and running off.

Tanner gave an angry grunt and was about to turn around to chase after Sly when the Murray let out an urgent grunt. Sighing, Tanner floored it and headed in the direction of the safe house.

"I guess I'll find out what he's doing soon," he said to himself, staying focused on the road.


	8. Midnight

II. II

**Midnight**

It was almost midnight when Sly reached his destination: Carmelita's apartment. He shuffled his feet and looked down to the ground, thinking about what he was doing.

"What am I doing?" he said to himself. "I'm gonna see if she's home, see if she's awake, then if she is, I'm gonna tell her how I feel about her. Let's see, Carmelita, I love you…" he brought his hand up and smacked himself.

"Yep, that's how it's gonna go down, I talk, she slaps me, I talk some more, she probably knees me in the gut, I don't stop, she probably shoves a pistol in my mouth, yep I'm going for it."

Sly began to climb up the pipe running the full height of the apartment building. Just around the corner of the building would be Carmelita's balcony, and he would be out of view. Despite his costume, he wasn't hampered by the climb. Just as he reached the floor he wanted, the door to the balcony burst open and out came Carmelita. Sly quickly plastered himself the wall to keep himself out of view.

"Damn it!" she cursed. "Why is that everyone who seems decent and is on my side of the law are jackasses? And yet the only guy who actually seems to treat me fairly in that wretched Cooper!" she then leaned up against the railing and continued. "Why must he make me feel this way whenever he's around me? Do I even like the guy? Come on, he's a thief. My father hates him, and hates his dad, even though he's dead. That Cooper can get any woman he wants and yet he keeps focus on me. Why me?"

"Because," Sly began, appearing on the balcony. "I…"

Suddenly, Carmelita kicked him in the stomach, an area unprotected by the costume's light weight armor.

"You have a lot of guts coming here Cooper!" she yelled, punching Sly in the face, another unprotected area. "Why did you come here? Did you think that because you managed to kiss me again maybe I'd…"

Sly saw where this is going and Carmelita's fist as it once again went for his face. "NO! That's not the reason, nor will it ever."

He twisted her around so that her back was up against him and he was whispering into his ear.

"Let go of me Cooper!" she ordered, but he wouldn't let go.

"AT that party, I realized something," Sly whispered. "All these years, I've been denying anything that concerns the idea that I liked you as anything more than just a good cop. But each time we've met, I found it harder and harder to deny things. And then at the party, I crumbled. You know why I danced with you? You know why I kissed you? You know why I'm here right now? It's because I love you, and always had…"

Sly released his grip and turned to leave. Carmelita was stunned. The guy who she thought she hated was in love with her. Now she had that ever so cliché moral battle. Give the heart what it wants, or give her job what it ants. But then again, what the hell did her heart want. And then it all flashed by. That kiss on Krack-Karov, the helicopter ride, the rescue she pulled off when he was about to be crushed to death. She knew what her heart wanted, and it wanted Sly.

"Cooper, wait," she said, Sly's wrist as he climbed out onto the ledge. He looked back at her, and jumped back down in front of her.

And then she grabbed his head and pulled his lips to hers, and the two embraced each other. What seemed like forever was ended when the silence was interrupted by a third person.

"Hey, Carm? You home?"

"Shit it's Alexia, my partner, friend and roommate," Carmelita whispered. "You gotta get out of here…"

"I'm gone my love, but will you answer one thing," Sly whispered.

"What?"

"Will you go out with me or something or so other…" Sly weakly smiled.

"Yes, yes I will Ringtail," she answered with a smile, kissing him one more time.

And then Sly took off, running along the rooftops with a spring in his step not seen before. As he reached the safe house, he stopped and looked at the stars. He then fell to his knees and yelled. "THANK YOU!"


	9. Agree to Disagree

II. III

**Agree to Disagree**

About two months had past since what happened in the last chapter, and even after appearing in public (but in disguise) Sly and Carmelita's relationship wasn't discovered. Carmelita was temporarily transferred to another case when Chief Barkley figured it would be a long time before Sly Cooper would pull off another heist, but Carmelita knew he would never pull off another one ever again when he told her that he was giving up thieving.

They had just left the movies and entered Parc de la Villette.

"Carmelita, now, I know this may be too rash but," Sly spoke as he got down on one knee (I'm sure we all see where this is going…) "But Carmelita, I love you, so ask of you, will you be my wife…" he pulled out a diamond ring of great quality that might of made even the Pink Panther diamond look like a piece of crap.

"Oh my, Sly…" she said, stunned, trying to come up with an answer. And then she came up with it. "Yes."

Meanwhile, someone had seen them, Carmelita's cousin Tybalt (uh-oh). He hadn't seen him propose but he figured they were having a relationship. And then his blood boiled when he saw the couple kiss.

"He'll ruin her!" he said to himself, wide-eyed and angry. "I must stop him."

Tybalt ran home to think of a plan. But he didn't tell Juan or Maria what he saw in fear that they would expel Carmelita from the family. He wanted Cooper to suffer, but not his cousin Carmelita.

After the two parted, Sly went back to the safe house to talk to Bentley. He knew the turtle would freak out, maybe actually put the cross bow to his head (for real!). He sighed and decided to tell Bentley. But Bentley was the one who started things up.

"Sly, can I talk to you," Bentley said motioning Sly to follow him to the lab.

"What'ya need Bent?" Sly asked.

"For the past months, you have been going out, perhaps once a week, carrying a rose with you," Bentley stated. "Now I'm not one to get into personal lives here, but I'm assuming that your going out with someone, hm?"

"Yes Bentley, I have," Sly said with a smile. "And…you don't have your crossbow around do you?"

"No."

"Good, because I asked this special girl to marry me…"

"WHAT!" Bentley yelled. "Your god damned crazy!"

"Listen Bentley, she said yes, I'm getting married," Sly argued. "Deal with it or something."

"You think I'm gonna deal well with the fact that my best friend is marrying someone I don't even know…" Bentley yelled.

"You know what, I shouldn't have told you," Sly said. "I need someone who'll marry me, a thief, one of the most wanted criminals in the world, with this woman…." He began to walk away.

"Wait," Bentley sighed. "Fine, I can't stop you, but if you two really love each other, then, at least let me do it. I would like to at least keep this as little known as possible. By the way, who is she?"

"You'll find out," Sly smirked.


	10. Plans

II. IV

**Plans **

"Oh jeez," Tanner said, turning to Panda King.

"Why did he not bust us?" Panda King asked.

"He big loco moron," Dimitri answered, twirling his fingers around the temples of his head to similutae crazyness.

"Dimitri, you're a loco moron," Tanner stated. "What I wonder is where the hell Sly is? He should be here when Tybalt comes to beat his ass to a bloody pulp."

"I doubt Tybalt's skill," Panda said. "He may be strong, but he lacks the well roundedness of Sly."

"I tell, Tybalt wants us to tell him," Tanner said.

"Tybalt wanted you to tell me what?" Sly interrupted, jumping down from a lightpost.

"TF wants to duke it out with you," Dimitri said. "He say meet at Jardin du Luxembourg at noon or else your romance life, whatever it is, is revealed."

"Tybalt can take his threat up the ass," Sly scoffed. "If I know him, he's bluffing."

"Hold on a minute Sly," Tanner said. "I'm guessing you have a girlfriend?"

"Yeah, what's it to you?" Sly said.

"Nothing, I'll see you at Luxembourg," Tanner said walking away.

Sly too, walked off. He knew Tybalt wouldn't spill the beans on Carmelita. She was family, and he wasn't evil enough to make her suffer for his own personal gain. Tybalt was an ass, but he wasn't an asshole. As Sly rounded the corner, he ran into Alexia.

"Carmelita calls of you," she said.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Sly said, panicking deep inside himself.

"Don't give me that shit Cooper, Carmelita told me about your relationship and she asks of you," Alexia said. "She asks of the wedding."

"Tell her…" Sly began. "Tell her to come at noon, and to meet me at the old chapel on Victor Hugo. That's all I have to say."

"I'll tell her," Alexia said, walking off.

Sly watched as the greyhound walked off. As he did so, he pondered about how fast paced things were. Last night, he proposed to Carmelita an argued with Bentley, and now today, he's tying the knot.

"Jeez, I'm being rather spontaneous lately," he flatly said, and headed towards the chapel.


	11. Can't Get to the Point

II. V

**Can't Get to the Point**

Carmelita paced back and forth in her apartment. She was anxious to hear from Sly about the wedding. She knew it was so soon, but then again, it was better than to be hitched to McBride (eew!). She then banged he fist on the kitchen countertop and grunted.

"Where the hell is she?" she sighed. "he said she'd be back in a half an hour, and it's been two damned hours already."

Suddenly, Alexia barged in, winded, and stumbled onto the couch.

"'Bout time you showed up," Carmelita said, going up to Alexia. "What did Sly say?"

"Could you hold on a minute, I'd like to relax," Alexia said, wearily sprawling out on the couch.

"Just tell me," Carmelita snorted.

"Can't you see I'm out of breath?" Alexia huffed. "I had walk from Champs-Elysees to all the way here!"

"Then if you're out of breath, then how come you have the breath to say you're out of freakin' breath?" Carmelita yelled. "Now tell me! Does he send good news or bad? Don't make me get my gun!"

"OKAY, OKAY!" Alexia yelled, afraid of staring down the barrel of a gun, even though she herself is a cop. "He's quite the charmer, and he looks even better than his wanted pictures show him…"

Carmelita frowned angrily and pointed her gun at Alexia, who gave an 'eeep!'

"He says meet for the marriage at noon at the old chapel on Victor Hugo Street!" Alexia shrieked, and then sighed when her friend pulled the gun from her forehead.

"Next time Alexia, get to the damn point," Carmelita said. "So he wants to marry today, right?"

"Yeah," Alexia nodded. "Are you?"

"Yes, I will," Carmelita said, looking at the clock. "I need to get dressed and go now."

The clock showed that it was a quarter past eleven. Carmelita hurried, getting dressed and making herself nice for her wedding. She then rushed into her car and took off, wearing a long leather coat to hide what she was wearing. Alexia watched as Carmelita's car took off down the street.

"Why do I have a feeling that this isn't going to end well?" Alexia sarcasticallyasked herself. "Oh yes! He's a thief, and she's a cop."

Alexia shrugged and went to have lunch.


	12. An Officer and a Thief Together

II. VI

**An Officer and a Thief Together**

At the chapel on Victor Hugo Street, Bentley was getting quite annoyed with Sly's secrets.

"Tell me, for the love of…" Bentley yelled. "Who is she?"

"I told you before, you'll find out!" Sly replied.

"Is she even gonna come?" Bentley asked. "Because if she doesn't I'll be pissed for staying up all night trying to get my license to marry people!"

Suddenly, the door to the chapel opened and in came Carmelita though at first Bentley didn't register who it was. She was wearing a white dress, a white version of her black dress. Sly on the other hand wore a white dress shirt and a black matching dress jacket. Sly stood in position at the makeshift altar, as did Bentley, but when he finally realized who it was, he squealed in panic.

"Holly shit!" Bentley said, for the first time Sly can remember swearing. "Inspector Fox? YOU ARE CRAZY!"

"You're right, I probably am crazy, crazy about her as she is about me," Sly said.

"He's right," Carmelita said, smiling. "We've been seeing each other for quite some time, and right now, I would just love marry him right now so that tonight we both can…"

"Don't finish that sentence and I'll get this going," Bentley said in disgust.

The two lovebirds took up their positions alongside each other as Bentley began say what any priest or preacher (whoever it is who marries a couple together) says.

"So we here bring together an officer of the law and a thief of…anti-law in holy matrimony…"

Eventually they reached the end.

"Sly Cooper, do you take Carmelita Montoya Fox as your bride?"

"I do."

"Carmelita Fox, do you take Sly Cooper as your husband?"

"I do."

"Then I pronounce you husband and wife, you may now kiss the bride…"

Instead of some regular kiss, Sly grabbed Caqrmelita and dipped her low to the ground and kissed her. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and the kiss seemed to last a while. Bentley on the other hand walked away.

"Get a room," he muttered.

Suddenly, his binocucom rang and he answered it.

"What id it Penelope?" Bentley asked.

"It's Tanner, Tybalt attacked him!" Penelope answered.

* * *

Uh-Oh! Next chapter we'll find out what happened, in Part 3 


	13. He Must Die!

III. I

**He Must Die**

Sly and Bentley rushed over as fast as they could. Lying before them inside one of the many empty backup safe houses was Tanner, profusely bleeding. Penelope was trying vainly to stop the bleeding from what appeared to be wounds just all over his body.

"What happened?" Sly asked in shock. Then raising his voice to a yell. "WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED HERE?"

"When you didn't show up," Panda King said. "Tybalt came after one of us to show that he meant business."

Bentley looked confused.

"What are you talking about?" Bentley said. "What do you mean Sly didn't show up?"

"Mean dude Tybalt challenged bro to dual," Dimitri said. "Said come at noon or else something something…"

Bentley gave and evil glare at Sly. So Sly instead didn't go the showdown so he could marry Carmelita and had now resulted in mortally injuring a friend.

"What happened Tanner," Sly said, crouching down beside Tanner.

"It doesn't really matter," Tanner gasped. "I'll be okay…"

Sly didn't buy it. He turned to Guru and motioned him to come over.

"Show me," Sly whispered to Guru.

gibberish

The Guru connected Tanner and Sly's minds together, giving Sly the opportunity to see what was now causing the gang so much pain.

_Tanner was at the Jardins du Luxembourg, awaiting Sly to appear and kick Tybalt's ass. By half past noon, Sly still hadn't shown up, and Tybalt was pissed._

"_Where is he?" Tyabalt asked, stalking up to Tanner._

"I don't know, and just to be clear," Tanner replied. "You don't talk to me that way. I'm not your servant; I'm not someone below in the food chain…"

"_Shut the hell up!" Tybalt yelled, clocking Tanner in the jaw._

_Tanner recoiled and then retaliated. "Do you know who the hell I am?"_

"_I don't know, nor do I give a shit!" Tybalt answered._

_The two continued to brawl. Tybalt would get slammed into the ground, Tanner would get his neck decked on the edge of the fountain. And then Tybalt fought dirty._

"_Bout this for size ya bastard!" Tybalt yelled, pulling out a pistol._

_Tanner froze. Tybalt then pulled the trigger, pulling it as fast as he could as he unloaded the six shot magazine into his quarry. Tanner yelped as each bullet entered his body. When they stopped coming, that was when Tyablt ran, leaving Tanner to die in an increasing pool of his own blood._

Sly yelled as if in pain and then looked down at Tanner.

"Don't worry about me," he said. "Just know that tomorrow, Tybalt will be in prison, after all, he did shoot the vice president's brother, and you'll find me an ill cavalier on a hospital bed…"

Tanner suddenly gasped in pain, and then slowly, his head fell back to the ground, and he went limp. Sly's face was contorted in anger and pain, and so he yelled as if in pain and ran for the door.

"Wait Sly, what are you doing?" Murray asked.

"Settling a score," Sly grunted, pushing Murray away.

"I can't let you do that," Bentley said.

"I'm the reason Tanner is dead! Had I been there for that dual…" Sly yelled.

"…You'd be dead," Bentley finished.

Sly took a deep breath and ran out the door.

Tybalt sat back in his chair in his office on the third floor of the Interpol building. He sighed in a little bit of relief. At least he made Sly suffer. But he did have a slight feeling of dread. What if he killed someone important? Tybalt was knocked out of his train of thought when his cell phone rang.

"Hello?" he answered.

"Rooftop, RIGHT NOW!" someone on the other end yelled. "Come alone."

Tybalt hung up his phone and took a deep breath and headed up to the roof. He was greeted by an empty rooftop. And the Sly appeared.

"You killed my friend," he said.

"You should have showed up," Tybalt calmly said. "Hell, you should've stayed away from my cousin."

"I love her! And she loves me!"

"You'll ruin her!"

"ENOUGH!"

Sly lunged at Tybalt, bringing his cane around to hit him in the head. Tybalt ducked down and dive rolled out of the way. He swung at Sly, only to have his fist painfully deflected. He yelped, giving Sly enough time to slam his cane into Tybalt's face, who stumbled back. But he suddenly pulled out his gun.

"He died like a pig," Tybalt said coolly.

"What?" Sly asked now quite getting what his adversary and cousin-in-law said.

"I said your friend died screaming like a stuck Irish pig!" Tybalt replied.

Sly's face contorted with anger and revenge and he charged Tybalt. Surprised, Tybalt pulled the trigger, realizing that the magazine was empty; he forgot to reload. Sly struck his cane into Tybalt's gut, who howled in pain. Sly brought his cane up, upper cutting Tybalt, and grabbing the fox by the collar of his shirt. He then shoved Tybalt in the direction of the edge of the rooftop.

"What are you doing?" Tybalt yelled, realizing what was happening.

Suddenly, Tyblat was swung around to see his end coming. He watched in vain and surprise as he was shoved over the edge and screamed in horror as the ground came up upon him.

"DID HE SOUND ANYTHING LIKE THAT?" Sly yelled as he watched his quarry fall to his death.

Tybalt slammed into the roof of a parked police cruiser, caving the roof into the vehicle and leveling the car into the ground. About six cops rushed to find a dead Fox mangled amidst broken aluminum, only then to look up at Sly Cooper. Sly knew he would have to run. By now, Chief Barkley would have ordered a shoot on sight order. He was screwed.


	14. Killing the Mood

III. II

**Killing the Mood**

Carmelita was anxious. She hadn't heard about what had happened, but she worried for Sly. He had rushed out of the chapel as fast as he could. As far as she was concerned, she hoped it didn't keep the two away parted. She kept looking up at the clock waiting for the time when Sly would come.

"Come on, come on," she grunted to herself. "Let it be damn night already."

Suddenly, Alexia came in, looking upset. She sat down on the couch, not saying a word.

"What's wrong," Carmelita asked.

"He's dead," Alexia answered.

"What?"

"He's dead! He's dead! He's killed!"

Carmelita was instantly alarmed, and immediately mistook whom her friend was talking about.

"Who's dead?" Carmelita asked, tears forming. "Tell me it wasn't Sly, for my love of him tell me he isn't dead!"

"Who would have thought it would be Sly?" Alexia said.

Carmelita suddenly began weeping. "Is he dead or not?"

"Tybalt, your cousin, he's dead! Sly killed him!" Alexia yelled. "Now Barkley's put the bastard on a shoot on sight order."

Carmelita was in shock. Then tears began to well up. Now her cousin was dead, and Sly was as good as dead. The shoot on sight order was never actually used before in the history of the Interpol Paris Division. When this was issued on a wanted criminal, it meant that any officer of the law was given permission to lethally bring down that criminal with any weapon at their disposal whether it was a standard pistol or nail gun or a Molotov. Sly had dug his own grave. The moment a cop saw him, that cop would be raining bullets on him.

What Carmelita was having a hard time figuring out as she began to cry was whom her tears were for. Her cousin? Who was now taking a dirt nap with his head implanted in the transmission of a squad car? Or her husband? A notorious thief who was now probably going to join her cousin by the end of the week?

"Why?" she asked herself. "Why?"

Meanwhile, at Interpol, Chief Barkley was having a stare down with the vice-president and Juan Fox.

"YOU WANT ME TO WHAT?" Barkley yelled.

"You heard me Barkley," the VP said. "I want you to go back on your shoot on sight order."

"NO GOD DAMNED WAY JEAN!" Juan yelled. "THAT BASTARD THIEF KILLED MY NEPHEW!"

"Well I should add right now is that you nephew, is now a deceased enemy of the state," the VP replied.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Juan asked.

"I'm saying is that Tybalt Fox had as of noon today had killed my brother Tanner," VP answered.

"Why the hell would he do that?" Barkley asked, in as much shock as Juan was.

"As of today I have come across evidence showing that Tanner was in friendship with the Cooper Gang, though not one of them and did not take in any part of their heists, he was still a friend of their leader Sly Cooper," VP said. "My guess is that Tybalt killed Tanner on the basis that, one, he didn't know who he was, and two, that Tanner was Cooper's friend. And because he killed a relative of an important government official, Tybalt was an enemy of the state, but because of our relations, I'm willing to dock that from his records. So technically, Cooper did that would have cost the state thousand of euros to allow for free."

Juan was in anger. No one, not even the vice-president nor the president, could call a relative of his an enemy of the state. And now a murderer was getting away almost free! He tore the VP out of his chair and shoved him against the window and made him stare at the crime scene in the unit parking lot.

"You scene that," he hoarsely whispered. "That's my nephew twisted into the damn chassis of a god damn car! I want justice! COOPER MUST DIE!"

Back at Carmelita's apartment, the vixen was still having her moral battles.

"Tybalt tried to kill Sly, but Sly killed Tybalt," Alexia explained.

"But he did so to protect himself," Carmelita defended.

"But why would you not hate the man who killed your cousin?" Alexia asked.

"But would I hate the man who is my husband?" Carmelita answered. She had made up her mind. "I still mourn the loss of my cousin, as much as he was an ass, he was family. But had Sly killed Tybalt, it would be him six feet under and I'd have lost the only person I've actually loved for true."

Had she not have been in love with Sly, nor had the two even fallen in love, chances were that she would have taken a Desert Eagle and shoot off his knee caps and torture him unmercifully until she finally put round into his brain. But he was her livelihood, and for that, she couldn't bear to even slap him in ill will.

"I'll send for him," Alexia said, turning to the door. "If anything, a man like that would be just as devastated as you are…"

Alexia left, heading to where she thought she might be able find at least on member of the Cooper Gang. AS much as she felt awkward to admit it, she knew she had to be the one to help make this odd marriage work.


	15. Banished

III. III

**Banished**

Sly was a grave person now. He worriedly laid his head out on a table in the computer room. He knew he was a dead man walking, and wasn't his normal cool under-all circumstances self. Bentley was in a contrasting mood with a combination of pissed and fearful.

"Sly, I've just hacked into Interpol's computer," Bentley said, looking away from his computer to Sly. "They're saying that you have less than until sun rise tomorrow to get out. Sly, they're giving you a chance to get out of Paris and never come. If you don't leave by five a.m. tomorrow, your under the shoot to kill order."

"But where would I go?" Sly grumbled. "All our safe houses outside of Paris are temporary. When we're done, we pack up never come again! The only other place is the caboose, and that's here too! Paris is my home. Everything that's my life is here. I'd be no better dead!"

"Sly!" Bentley scolded. "This is better than death! If it weren't for the vice-president, you'd be dead! This is mercy being shown to you despite Mr. Fox's beliefs.

"YOU CALL THIS MERCY?" Sly yelled, thrusting himself out of his chair hard enough that it tipped it over. "My love is here. Heaven is here! No damn cop, ex-cop, or government official is going to keep me from my wife!"

Sly then collapsed onto the ground, his tears dying the light concrete floor dark with moisture. Bentley looked down on his best friend with a pained sympathetic expression. For about a minute it didn't change until; there was knock on the door.

"Get up Sly!" Bentley muttered.

Sly reluctantly got up and in came Alexia; a grave look upon her face.

"Carmelita, how is she?" Sly asked weakly, his voice wavering. "I assume she hates me."

"She mourns Tybalt's death, as much as she mourns for you," Alexia said, looking down to the ground.

"What have I done?" Sly hyperventilated, looking down on the ground. He then whispered, "I should be dead."

"No you shouldn't!" Bentley scolded. "Look, you have until sunrise tomorrow. I can't believe I'm gonna say this, but go to her. Then before five, leave Paris and find a place to stay. The gang will pack up and meet you there in a few days time."

Sly looked up at the clock. By now there would still be some daylight, but it would be dark enough to get around.

"Alexia, I'll see you at the apartment, I got something to do," Sly said, leaving the room.

"You won't find me there," Alexia commented. "I have a few enough ideas and reasons to why I'm staying at a hotel."

Sly entered his room and closed the door and sighed. He then undressed out of his cloths that he still had on since his wedding, and put on his usual thieving outfit. He opened his window and got out on the sill. He looked back across his room and sighed once again before he leaped out of the window and headed for his love's apartment.

Carmelita sat waiting on her bed. She was filled with mixed feelings towards Sly. He killed her cousin, but Tybalt would have killed him. She was also frustrated with Sly for causing so many problems in her life, yet she was frustrated with herself for letting him get to her. But it all came down to nothing but mixed feelings. She walked over to her bureau and pulled out a copy of Sly's ID picture.

"Where are you?" she whispered to herself.

"Right here," Sly said, standing in the doorway to her balcony.

Carmelita was taken by surprise and turned around to see him there. As she warily walked up to him, she ouldn't help but notice a kind sad look she never had seen on him before.

"Carmelita, I'm sorry" he said, his voice wavering. "If I could, I would have changed what happened…"

"Quite," she whispered, putting her index and middle fingers over his lips to keep him from talking.

She pulled her fingers away and kissed him. She quickly pulled her arms around his neck and held him tight. As he kissed her back, their actions went beyond that. (_Whoa, I'm not gonna go any further than that!)_

Everything around them on the other hand was changing. Something was amiss, and things were about to take a turn for the worse.

* * *

Normally by now, this and the next chapter would have already added, but I've been recovering from surgery when my appendix ruptured. I'm working on the last chapter of part three, but I can only work on it for a couple minutes at a time since I get lightheaded from not laying down. After all, I don't have a laptop (I wish I did.). Not to mention that the chapter is pretty long. So, expect the next chapter in a few days. 


	16. The Second Man

III. IV

The Second Man 

At the Fox Estate near Parc de la Villette, McBride came by. He wanted to give his condolences, but he had an ultimatum.

"Once again Juan, I give you my condolences," McBride said. "I knew Tybalt well, but now he was ended by that bastard Cooper," he shook his fist in anger.

"I don't need you pity Joseph," Juan tiredly said, falling back into an armchair. "For that raccoon's sake, it better be the cops that find him because if I catch him, he'll begging for death by the time I'm finished.

"Friend, I'm sorry this had to happen," McBride comforted, sitting back in another chair. "I hope your wife is okay?"

"She is, Gregorio and Julio are the same," Juan answered. "Though I wish those guys would just move out. They're in their early twenties and I'm in my fifties. Carmelita was the one with the good idea of leaving, second child in the family…"

"That's what I'd like to talk about Juan," McBride interrupted. "I once again ask of romance…"

Juan sighed, cutting off McBride.

"You're the persistent you are," Juan said. "I'd need something to cover up all this sad with happiness, and what better joy for the whole family than a marriage. Joseph, I know we don't live in Shakespeare's time and all that, but I'd like you to marry my daughter like you've asked of before. I'm sure she'll find me the voice of all reason. We Foxes move out and marry at a young age, so call it tradition."

"My word sir," McBride uttered. "I just hope she gets use to me sometime soon."

"And just so that she can't escape this while still having enough time to prepare," Juan said, motioning McBride to follow him into the kitchen. "Let's have the wedding on a, what's the date today? Ah yes, today's Tuesday, so let's have the wedding on Friday. Friday good enough for you?"

"Yes it is sir," McBride said with a smile.

"Good, now I'll just see you out the door so I can go to bed," Juan said, motioning McBride to the front door.

McBride left, and Juan Fox headed upstairs to tell Maria of the good news, if she would be on his side. It would be tomorrow, too late as it would be, when he planned to have the news broken to Carmelita.


	17. Begging to Stay

III. V

Begging to Stay 

Sly woke up to sun in his eyes. For a moment he was fine, but then he realized it.

"Shit!" he whispered hoarsely as he leaped from the bed.

As he did so, he disturbed Carmelita, whose head had been resting on his shoulder. Sly grabbed his blue shirt that had been tossed aside and put in on in haste, followed by his belt, his boots and so on. Startled, Carmelita quickly grabbed for a robe.

"Don't go just yet," she said.

"But I must Carmelita," Sly replied, showing that he himself did not wish to go. "I don't want to leave you. Nor do I wish to leave this city."

"Why must you leave?" she asked persuasively, putting her arms around his neck. "It's as if when things between us get interesting, there's always something to separate us."

Sly replied to this by putting his arms around her waist and kissing her gently. "Then I won't leave."

"I was hoping you would say that," Carmelita said.

"Scoff Interpol!" Sly jokingly said, dipping her down low to the floor and ad back up. "Let them try. As long as you and I both have a happy time together, I don't give a damn what'll happen to me. Then I'll give them a chance to kill me!"

Carmelita's expression suddenly changed from festive to serious. As Sly brought her back up, she pulled him into the living room and motioned for him to be out the door.

"You must leave then," she said unwillingly. "If you die because you stayed for me, I can't live with that. I don't want to lose you, so get out of here."

She pulled out a disguise kit from the floor of a closet. She used it every now and then when she needed a disguise for sing operations. When he was made over, his cloths instead were black jeans, a black button shirt, a pair of sunglasses, his hair dyed black, and five o' clock shadow. He kissed her goodbye and walked out the door.

"I'll send for you," he whispered.

As he stood out in the hall, watching her close the door, he mouthed the words 'I love you'. Sly turned to the stairs and looked down to see Alexia coming up the stairs, and with a grim look upon her face. Sly's slight smiled turned to a shocked frown when he realized that Juan and Maria Fox were following her. Instead, he turned to walk upstairs wait for them to pass to Carmelita's apartment, then sneak pass.

Carmelita sat back and sighed, turning on the TV to see Alexia come in, and to her dismay, her mother. Alexia approached Carmelita and whispered.

"God help you," she whispered as she past by to go to the kitchen.

"Mom, what are you doing here?" Carmelita asked.

"Just thought I'd come see you, see how you were doing," Maria replied.

"I'm okay, I suppose," Carmelita said.

"So much taken by that villain," Maria commented, taking a mug of coffee from Alexia.

"I have a pretty good idea whom you're talking about," Carmelita muttered.

"That bastard Cooper!" Maria yelled, turning swiftly to her daughter. "I'd never thought he would kill someone, much less my nephew! If he thinks he's safe because the vice-president said not to touch him. Your father has practically everyman at his disposal keeping tabs on him. The moment he thinks he has peace at last, then us and your father will be there to watch him suffer a painfully slow death…and be a nice punching bag for cousin Tybalt…"

"What are you doing here?" Carmelita seethed, grinding her teeth in anger.

"I come to talk about marriage," Maria answered with a cold grin. "Friday, you marry Joseph McBride…"

"WHAT?" Carmelita blew up, Alexia over in the next room giving out a squeak of fear. "I'M NOT MARRYING THAT PIG!"

"Then tell you father, he's coming in too"

"Dammit!" Carmelita cursed herself.

Just then, Juan entered with a big smile on his face, but upon seeing the tension on everyone's faces, it turned to a frown.

"So what's going on?" he asked in a stern voice.

"I'm not marrying that bastard McBride!" Carmelita yelled as she fixed herself a cup of coffee. "That fox is a jackass, and I could do better than him! Nice choice in husband, dad," she said sarcastically.

Juan was usually very patient with his children, but first his nephew gets killed, then the vice president recalls the death warrant, and now his daughter was going to disobey his best wishes. He snapped.

Juan caught his daughter by surprise and pushed against the wall, holding her head so that she had no other choice but to look into his cold, angry eyes.

"By so damn you," he cursed in a hoarse whisper. "You marry that man! It has been a tradition for Foxes to marry at a young age, and if not married by thirty, we hook them up! Now I've had enough civil disobedience! I'm fulfilling that tradition whether you want to help or NOT!" He broke out into a yell, causing Carmelita to flinch in terror. "If you don't, you can kiss the rest of your damn life's work away! I helped make you, and I can just as damn well end you!"

Juan let go and stalked off, his leg swinging out into a chair and kicking with so much force that it flew over the couch and was stopped by the wall. He then left through the front, slamming it so hard that not only did bits of plaster fell from the ceiling and the doorway framework bent.

Maria, flabbergasted by her husband's behavior, scurried out after Juan without a single word. Carmelita just stared out into space, unmoving, except forming tears that came down her cheek. Alexia was the first to move.

"Oh, what should I do?" Carmelita said in a stifled voice.

"If you ask me, go for McBride," Alexia said. "He…he…he just seems like the better choice."

"Why?" Carmelita asked, her voice was strained with emotion.

"Sly is a dead man walking, he probably won't make it out of the city alive, or at least without injury…McBride, he could make your career skyrocket. He's wealthy too…"

"Sly could romance the robot shark from Jaws to work the way it should've, he's worth at least a trillion dollars, and he's been in situations as sticky, if not stickier, as this one!"

Alexia left, leaving Carmelita alone in the kitchen. She silently and absent-mindedly moved to her bedroom, fell down onto the bed and cried.


	18. The Middle Way

IV. I

**The Middle Way**

Wednesday evening was a sorrow filled one. Though the sun was in the middle of the sky, it was as though there was darkness like night that fell upon a certain inspector. Though Carmelita had been given a week's vacation for her cousin's death, she was still at work. She had to make her marriage with Sly work, and she knew the person to help. After some persuasion, Alexia told her where she could find him.

Bentley heard a knock on the hideout door. Since he was the only one at the hideout, he was very wary. Opening the door, he was shoved backwards out of the foyer by a distressed Carmelita.

"How did you…?" Bentley choked, shocked at being discovered.

"Never mind," she said, her voice showing stress that immediately alerted Bentley. "You have to help me. I can't marry him…I can't…"

"WHO?" Bentley asked, practically yelling.

"McBride!" Carmelita answered. "Fathers making me marry him! You must help! If you don't help…"

Suddenly, a gun materialized in her hand. It wasn't her non-lethal shock pistol, but instead a .45. And it was pointed at her head. Bentley was so alarmed by this point that the gun itself nearly him want to do something involuntary that he had worked hard for three years his childhood to stop doing at night.

"OKAY, OKAY, OKAY!" Bentley screeched. "JUST DON'T BLOW YOUR BRAINS OUT!"

Camelita hid her gun back into a shoulder holster hidden by her jacket. She wiped away some tears that had formed. It was then she realized how desperate she was. Bentley motioned her to follow him to the lab. They took a detour through the garage, which was bigger than the garage door gave credit to. Not only did it hold the team van, which was out, but it also provided a machine shop. Staked in a corner were several boxes and crates filled with auto parts and aftermarket parts ranging from turbo's to nitrous oxide to brake calipers. Additionally, there was a collection of cars she only thought to see only in books. There was an Aston Martin, a Jaguar XK-RS, and a '69 Chevy Camaro Pace Car convertible.

"The Camaro's Sly's," Bentley absently said as they entered the lab.

Looking around, her thoughts towards turtle's intelligence turned out to be very much underestimated. He had all sorts of gadgets. It was as if she were in Q's lab in a James Bond movie. There was everything from laser watches to grappling hooks disguised as belt buckles to a mini rocket launcher of Panda King's disguised as a didgeridoo (_I think that's how it's spelled. It's an Australian native instrument that makes a distinctive waoowaoo sound.)_

Bentley rummaged around though one of his cabinets, this one filled with several beakers and test tubes containing several liquids raging from anti-venom to knock out gas in liquid form.

"Aha!" Bentley said, pulling out a beaker marked K-19.

He held it up to Carmelita. And told her his plan.

"Listen carefully, because I'm not going to write out directions," Bentley said, his face serious and almost emotionless. "I will send for Sly, how he will get back into Paris I don't know, but I will send him a letter. This formula I developed that will put you in a deathlike state. You will be like this for exactly forty-eight hours, not a minute more, not a minute less. You must drink every last drop. You will have exactly thirty seconds to finish the whole vile before it takes it effect."

"How could it trick someone into thinking I'm death unless I AM dead?" Carmelita asked, holding the vile and looking at it.

"Though it will stop your heart, your brain will continue to work," Bentley said. "Air from your last breath will be slowly circulated through your body via the bloodstream, but the flow will be too slow to be picked up by touch or monitor…"

"But what will happen to me within those forty-eight hours?" Carmelita asked.

"You should know your family, to prevent an autopsy, pass it off as suicide, leave behind enough evidence to suggest poisoning, then, since you were signed up for an autopsy only in the event of foul-play. What happens doesn't really matter, I've anticipated everything."

"When does Sly come into this?" Carmelita asked.

"When you wake up from your death-like state, you will be seeing Sly yourself…"

Carmelita, though not entirely relieved, surprised Bentley again by hugging him and running off. She barely heard Bentley yell out.

"Remember! Every last drop, and don't wait till tomorrow night!"

* * *

All right then, I've decided to add a few easter eggs in this fic. Now, the first three people to name three movies that I've somehow incorporated into the last two chapters will get a speaking part in this fic. Please send me a PM so that others don't find out the answers. There is one last chapter, and three others in this chapter. I'll post the answers and the winners next chapter. One is obvious, and two are cleverly hidden, and one has a hint that narrows it down, so you better know your movies 


	19. Knot Tomorrow!

IV. II

**Knot Tomorrow**

Juan Fox was back in a cheery mood. Though he was barking out orders as if he was in a drunken rage. He was not swayed by Carmelita's disobedience that morning, though then again, might have been the bottle of tequila that helped.

"Gregorio," he said, grabbing his son by the collar as he passed by. "I need you to go hand out these invitations." He handed Gregorio a stack of letters and a list of names.

"'Right sir," Gregorio replied, heading for his convertible parked on the driveway.

"Julio!" Juan then yelled, cupping his hands around his mouth as if a megaphone.

"Yeah?" Julio asked, peering over the second story railing.

"I need you to get me the finest caterers you can get hold of!" Juan assigned.

"I'm on it dad," Julio said, disappearing from sight.

Juan moved to his study and turned on his computer. After typing a few keys, he reached a daily report on the whereabouts of his quarry, Sly Cooper. Unfortunately, he managed to sneak out of the city with no detection and his seekers could find no trace or even a hint as to where he is. How Sly got out was a mystery, but then again, Sly himself was a mystery even to his daughter, who was professionally close to the guy…or so he thought. Turning off the computer he made his way to his liquor cabinet on the far wall to his left when Carmelita appeared.

"Daddy, I'm sorry about my…" Carmelita choked out. She had trouble admitting to this lie, but she managed to swallow her pride and say the rest. "…Misbehavior. Your right and I'm wrong. There's no way for me to find a good enough man for me on my own…"

"Well, well, well," Juan replied quickly to this and with a smile. "What's with the sudden change of heart? Bah, never mind, you've seen the point, forget it! I'll instead make you a Mrs. tomorrow instead! So please, go."

Juan waved Carmelita off and picked up his phone and dialed McBride's number.

Carmelita was on her way out the door back to her place when her mother, who was holding a box, stopped her.

"Carmelita," Maria said. "I know McBride isn't…well…um…I-I figured you could wear this." She handed Carmelita the box and she opened it.

"Your wedding dress?" Carmelita spoke in astonishment. "OH!…"

Carmelita and Maria embraced in a warm hug and then parted to do their duties.

When Carmelita reached her car, she slammed her head against the wheel and gave a quick sob. Her wedding was tomorrow now! She just hoped Bentley was planning on sending for Sly tonight, because she was going to have to play dead a little early.

* * *

Okay then, I got tired of waiting so the contests off.The three movies are: **Jaws** (that was extremely obvious), then there was **Goldeneye**, the whole thing about being inside Q's lab led to a Bond flic and the belt buckle grappling hook narrowed it down, and **K-19: The Widowmaker**. 


	20. Visions of Horror

IV. III

**Visions of Horror**

By now it was sundown, and the streetlamps turned on and most people went inside, leaving the streets a deserted loneliness feel. For Carmelita, that was exactly how she felt. She had been abandoned by her own family, forced to marry a man she didn't even like. As she sat down on her bed, she thought about what was going to happen.

She gave a tiny smile at some thoughts. One day, she might see herself with Sly out on private beachfront property around someplace like Kingston or Nassau. She could picture having children, but then couldn't help but give a silent giggle at how it would be like taking care of eight two year olds. But then she thought about what her mother said that morning. Her father's resources were almost limitless. She knew that if Sly were being watched, there'd be no rest. But that's a small price to pay for spending your life with the person you love.

Alexia entered the room and leaned against the wall.

"You sure you're okay?" she asked.

"Yes, I'll be all right," Carmelita muttered. "I'm going to bed."

"Goodnight," Alexia said, closing the door with her as she left the room.

As soon as Alexia left, Carmelita kneeled down on the floor and stuck her hand underneath the mattress, searching for something until she drew it back, clutching the vial marked K-19.

Sitting up on her bed, she had planned everything. On her bedside table was a bag of cyanide capsules she stole from the evidence locker at work and a note explaining her 'suicide'.

"Here's to you and me Sly," she softly said, twisting the cap off the vial and drinking its contents.

Suddenly, she went into a quick spasm and collapsed back wards, laying her head down short of her pillow and releasing the vial from her vice-like grip. The vial rolled across the floor and underneath the dresser, out of reach and out of view. It stopped gently along the wall, and a drop came out.

Somewhere around Chartes, a certain raccoon laid down on his bed in a new safe house. For the next couple of weeks he would be living alone while the gang packed up their belongings and slowly and intervals move their equipment. Apart from his cane and Thievius Raccoonus, the only other thing he managed to bring with him was one of Bentley's old laptops.

"Things are definitely changing," he yawned, and drifted into sleep.

The nightmare. At first it started out nice. A couple that didn't know what was in store for them dancing the night away when they've only just met. It was a happy dream, leading on to a private wedding. But that's when it all ended. Sly began to twist and turn in agony in his sleep. Someone was murdered, and the groom had to leave his wife behind. A distraught wife killed herself, and then too the husband died to be with his beloved. But as soon as the husband died, his wife woke up from her death to find him dead and once again ended her life, this time for good.

Sly jolted out of bed screaming. He quickly ran into the bathroom, turned on the lights and vomited into the toilet. When he was finally done, he splashed some cold water on his face and looked at himself in the mirror.

"It was just a dream," he whispered to his reflection. "It was just a dream and nothing more…"


	21. Preparations for the Setup

IV. IV

**Preparations for the Setup**

The next morning woke up as a cheery innocent one. Mr. Fox woke up happily, knowing today would be the day his beloved daughter would marry. Throughout, it was a happy sunrise, uncorrupted by the soon be news that would spread like wildfire throughout Interpol and possibly even the world: Inspector Carmelita M. Fox had committed suicide. Juan got dressed and woke up Maria, Gregorio, and Julio.

"Everyone get dressed, Joseph will be arriving pretty soon, and so should Carmelita," he said.

McBride himself was trying to make himself as disgustingly flawless a bit of perfection he thought he was. He may have been loaded and he had good graces with Mr. Fox, but he could be overly self-centered at a level that made Johnny Bravo look like a two out of ten on the scale. The fact that he dated 90 of the unmarried women at work gave him a feeling of invincibility.

He parted his hair to his left, slicking in some gel, and removed the teeth whitening strips off his teeth. Then he gave a smile to his reflection.

"Man! Carmelita will be begging for more of this by tomorrow night!" he said to himself.

Bentley had not yet learned of the soon be marriage as he sat back in his wheelchair. For nearly a year of little use of his legs, standing up was tiresome and limited. But hey! At least he could walk now. Penelope down in the lab; working on a new helicopter capable of setting off EMP charges and firing rockets. But like many inventions of theirs, the thing turned into a fireball and charbroiled Dimitri and Murray during the earlier stages. The pink guy was in his meditation dojo with Guru and Panda King. Dimitri was as usual practicing his scuba diving in pool complex they had hidden underneath the lab while flooding the room with his self-centered techno music. He pulled up his newspaper. Had he not been jolted awake by the cups of coffee he might not have noticed. In a small article, it read 'Fox Family Marriage' and it talked about briefly of what he had feared. The marriage was moved ahead to today!

"OH SHIT!" he yelled, fumbling for his laptop on the table next to him.

"What happened this time?" Penelope asked, walking up the stairs.

"Nothing, nothing, stubbed my toe while getting in the chair," he choked.

When she left, he typed away, making an email. Eventually, he hit send and sighed.

"I hope this works," he muttered.

Murray exited the dojo and worked on his kickboxing skills. Just before he left, Sly had assigned him to report on what was going on, preferably personally. For some reason he was more concerned about Inspector Fox than the others. He couldn't blame him. Sly did kill her cousin after all!

"Well you permanently screwed any chance of hooking up with the inspector Sly," he muttered silently, delivering a hard kick to the punching bag.

Sly had a rough night after his nightmare. He wasn't scared of the dream itself, but what it meant. So far, much of that dream had come true in his life, and now he was terrified by the fact that it couldn't have been a coincidence, though he still clung to the minuscule shred of hope that it was just a dream. After what happened, he only racked up a total of a half hour of sleep due to nodding off while sitting up awake in the darkness of his bedroom. Sitting at a desk in his room, he began to nod off, eventually unable to fight off the prevailing unconsciousness. Slamming his head onto the desktop, a glass of water spilled. The water ran out of the cup and into opening of his laptop, shorting out the chips and wires, and denying its owner the chance to read an incoming email.


	22. To Wake up Dead

IV. V

**To Wake up Dead**

Alexia was to first to find that something was wrong. At first she shrugged it off that Carmelita didn't wake up. She figured she was sleeping in; most inappropriate on a wedding day.

"Yo Monty!" she yelled from the kitchen. "Get your poly-marital ass out of bed! You gotta get ready!"

When there was nothing so much as a reply, she finally got impatient.

"HEY! GET OUT OF BED!" she yelled, banging on her friend's bedroom door. Then she took a more subtle approach. "Oh Carmy! I'm respecting your privacy by knocking but asserting my authority by coming in anyway!"

She burst through the bedroom door and was surprised to see Carmelita sprawled out on the bed. Surprise turned to shock and horror when she noticed that the vixen wasn't so much as stirring, much less breathing. And then she noticed the bottle of cyanide capsules that had been obviously stolen from an evidence locker and a note.

_Goodbye life_

Alexia suddenly screamed, and ran into the living room. Taking a moment to gather herself up, it was interrupted by the doorbell and Maria entered, followed by Juan.

"Shit" she thought. "How am I gonna explain this mess."

A few minutes later, all of Paris was startled by a deafening shrill scream.

The funeral was a quick one. It was private, and was speeded up. The only ones there were Alexia, Juan, Maria, Julio, and Gregorio. But to their unknowing, someone was watching the whole thing. Murray watched from a distance through his binocucom. It was true! Carmelita was dead! In panic, he took a deep breath and floored it in his van. He knew that Sly would be upset, likely so upset that even he would have to ditch Sly due to the awkwardness.

"Oh…no!" he whispered to himself. "Sly's gonna go big time loco about this…"

Bentley checked his email for the thirteenth time in the past fifteen minutes. Giving up, he finally decided to send a second email. But as it said 'SENDING' a new screen appeared saying 'UNABLE TO SEND, COMPUTER MAY BE INOPERABLE'.

"SHIT!" he exclaimed so loud that everyone in the entire hideout could hear him.

Quickly thinking, he hurried to his study and jotted down everything that needed to be said on a piece of paper. Sticking it in a big envelope, he yelled "Murray? Where are you?"

"He's not here," Penelope answered entering the study.

"DAMN! DAMN! DAMN!" Bentley cursed. "Penelope, I need you to take this letter to Sly in Chartes. It's important, AND DON'T DARE ASK WHAT IT'S ABOUT!"

"Easy there four-eyes!" Penelope calmed down, using her pet name for Bentley. "I'll take it!"

Less than a couple of minutes and a seemingly endless lecture about the the importance of the letter and its urgency, Penelope finally took off in Mercedes sedan.

"I got a bad feeling about this," he muttered.

* * *

Uh-oh, we're closing in on the last chapters, and things don't look too good for Sly and Carmelita. I would have made this chapter more exciting, but I was lacking in creativity and I felt this chapter was just a filler. But things will really start to build up next chapter. 


	23. StarCrossed

V. I

**StarCrossed **

Sly sat in a whicker chair out on the front porch of the suburban hideout disguised as a house. It wasn't as elaborate as the one in Paris, but there was more breathing room since the home had close to plantation sized land ownership. There was a long driveway leading up to the house, and as typical, was unpaved with an exception to the area in front of the house. During his brief stay, Sly had but up wood linings along the driveway so that he could later on fill it in with concrete and coat with tar and asphalt.

Despite how it looked on the outside, clean and well kept, the house was rather contrasting on the inside. Some walls were missing the drywall and now exposed the naked studs that once supported them. Bare light bulbs hung from the ceilings. The house itself was three stories and a basement. The basement itself was simply made of two enormous concrete rooms. Down here would be the lab while the other room was having a wall constructed for the workout room and meditation dojo. On the ground floor was the garage, the living room, the dining room, and the kitchen. The second floor had the team members' bedrooms, with and exception for Sly's. The third floor held Sly's room, which was bigger than the others and was appointed to him by Bentley since now there was a Mrs. Cooper, and also in addition to the treasury, which would hold small amounts of each team member's cut of the Cooper Vault earnings. In the back yard were a pool house and a pool.

Sly was in a bad mood. Cranky to be exact.

"First a nightmare makes me nearly piss myself first time since I was five, now the damn laptop is down the shitter!" he quietly muttered. "I got to think of a way of getting Carmelita with me. Bentley would help, but I have no way of contacting that mind of his. The laptops busted, I still have to reconnect the phone lines. DAMMIT! Why did ya have to lose your cool Sly?" he asked himself in frustration. "Why'd ya have to kill that ass Tybalt? He would have gotten his come up'ings anyway if you didn't interfere!"

An entire day had passed without him knowing about the events in Paris. He was completely cut-off from the world. He began writing things in a little notebook before turning back to the Thievius Raccoonus for the tenth time since he woke up that day. And once again, he didn't ind anything to help his predicament. Something then caught his attention. There was the team van at high speed barreling down the driveway.

"Hm, news from Paris," he said, cocking his eyebrow with enthusiasm.

Murray had been driving all night to pass the news. He took a few wrong turns by accident, which made his journey longer than it should have. The brakes screeched as the van came to a sliding halt, kicking up gravel. Murray stepped out, exhausted.

"Hey Murray…wait, have you been driving all night?" Sly asked.

"What do you think Sly?" Murray sternly asked, walking up to his friend, swerving a little now and then.

"Get inside, I'll make you some coffee," Sly motioned and Murray followed.

To Sly's surprise, when he poured Murray a cup, instead of taking a cup, Murray grabbed the pitcher from his hands and drank straight from it. When the big guy was finished, he finally asked his usual questions.

"So, how are Bentley and the others?" Sly asked.

"They're fine, but Bentley has been yelling out loud enough to tell the cops where we are!" Murray replied with rejuvenated enthusiasm, forgetting why he came here in the first place.

"Really?" Sly asked with a sarcastic tone, knowing that somehow he was the focus of why Bentley was taking his anger out verbally on an unforeseen force.

"Yeah, we don't know what's his problem, Guru and Panda King are having trouble reaching nirvana, Dimitri's getting even more annoying because he keeps screwing up his oxygen mixture in his dive tanks, and Penelope's RC gunship is a fireball after fireball…" Murray added, taking a big gulp that finished the last of the coffee.

"So tell me Murray, how's Carmelita?" Sly asked ominously.

Murray nearly gagged as he was caught by surprise as he swallowed. Sly immediately knew something was wrong, or at least if he did, he didn't show it.

"Oh, god Sly, I-I-I'm sorry man," Murray said, his voice cracking in emotion. "Sh-sh-she killed herself."

At first Sly couldn't quite get a grasp on what he just heard. "What?" he whispered.

"She killed herself, in her apartment, I saw the funeral, she's dead…" Murray said.

"C-Carm?" he whispered to himself as he made his way upstairs, a worried Murray watching him leave the kitchen.

Sly walked up the two flights of stairs to his bedroom. He looked at the bed for two that would only be half filled for the rest of his life. As he looked at his shocked image in the mirror, he face contorted in rage and sorrow as he yelped out a scream and threw his things about the room. Without realizing it, he threw the Thievius Raccoonus across the room, where it thudded off the wall and hit the floor.

Looking at what he did, he began to pick everything up and put them back Kneeling down on the floor, he picked up the book that he practically worshipped. Cradling it, he began to sob. Only one word he said over and over.

"Carmelita…Carmelita…Carmelita…" he whispered over and over again.

Placing the Thievius Raccoonus back on its holder on the dresser, he recomposed himself and went downstairs. He turned to a worried Murray who no doubt had heard what happened two floors above him.

"Murray, come on, we're going to Paris," he nodded to the big guy. "I need you to get me there by tonight."

Murray just nodded. The team van pulled out of the driveway and sped down the road at high speed.

Penelope was at a midpoint between Paris and Chartes. And luck wasn't n her side. The sun was already setting and she had been waiting in the Mercedes for hours. A TGV train had derailed and while nobody was killed, several of the cars had formed a roadblock over her half of the freeway. She was trapped in the heavy traffic and failed to notice a blue van with a flame job speed by at high speed.

It was dark when Sly snuck into Bentley's lab. He had Murray drop him off several blocks away and now he was silently rummaging through Bentley's cabinets containing several vials of assorted liquids until finally he found the one that he was looking for. P-29 it was marked.

He then entered the garage, got into the driver's seat of his Camaro Pace car, and took off down the street, nobody to the wiser that a friend had stolen a very potent poison.

Sly sat back in his car and sighed. He knew what he had to do.


	24. A Fight in the Dark

V. II

**A Fight in the Dark**

Penelope entered the hideout impatiently while still carrying the look of bad news. Bentley knew something was really wrong.

"How did it go?" Bentley asked, hoping that his love's expression held false meaning.

"I couldn't get to him, the entire roadway was backed up, I was trapped and couldn't get out and find another way for hours," Penelope said. "I'm sorry."

"Oh shit," Bentley inaudibly muttered.

Bentley moved to his study to contemplate about what was happening. Sly doesn't receive his email for some screwed up reason, Murray disappears right when he needs him, and now the damn letter explaining the setup can't reach its destination. After thinking about, he knew that he wouldn't be able to contact Sly anytime soon. He sighed. Fate had disrupted his promise to Carmelita that when she woke up, Sly would be there. Bentley realized he had no choice. He was going to have to get Carmelita himself.

He sighed. "Boy will she stick her boot up my ass," he jokingly muttered. "Hey, does anybody know where the Tums are?" he yelled.

Sly pulled up in his Camaro about a block from the cemetery. Pocketing the vial, a letter, and his keys, he grabbed his cane and casually strode down the sidewalk till he was at the gates. Amazingly, anyone who looked him I the eyes would think he was and ordinary guy, bored nonetheless, and not see his true intentions buried deep inside his mind.

McBride appeared at the final resting place of his love. Situated at the center of the Fox Family mausoleum, Carmelita was on the top of a granite pedestal. The next day workers would take her body a place it in her in her final resting place. Kneeling down on one knee, he gently laid a bouquet of flowers on the ground and wiped away a tear.

"I'm sorry…" he whispered.

Suddenly, he turned his head to the entrance, he had left the door open and he could hear footsteps approaching the entrance. Hurriedly, he dived behind a statue. Not a moment too soon a raccoon entered carrying a hook ended cane.

Bentley began gathering supplies, mostly a shovel and a crowbar in the event that Carmelita was either buried or stuck into a sarcophagus.

"Guys, I'm gonna need your help," he addressed his fellow teammates.

Guru looked off, as if he was sensing a disturbance. gibberish

"A disturbance?" Panda King asked. "What do you mean you sense a disturbance, what kind?"

gibberish

"Inner turmoil?" Panda King asked. "Like what?"

gibberish

"The kind that makes people do stupid things just to put it in layman's terms right?" Panda King asked.

gibberish

Just then, Murray entered, a chili dog in his hand. "Hey guys, I think Sly's about to do something stupid."

"How convenient," Bentley sarcastically muttered aloud. "MURRAY! WHERE THE HELL YOU BEEN?"

"Delivering news to Sly," Murray answered as if it was no big deal.

"Oh crap," Bentley softly said. "Oh god! Sly's gonna do something stupid, he knows!"

"Know what?" Dimitri asked, everyone was curious.

"Fine, Sly found out about Carmelita's 'death'," Bentley said, giving a sarcastic tone with the last word and drooping the index and middle fingers of both his hands in a sarcastic manner.

"So? He may be a little freaked out, but what's this got to do with anything?" Penelope asked.

"Carmelita's not actually dead, it's a hoax…" his voice trailed off.

"WHAT?" Everyone yelled in unison.

Bentley sighed, managed to coax the gang into getting in the van and get to the cemetery while he explained in the van.

McBride watched as the raccoon approached the pedestal. It took him a moment to finally realize who he was. Sly Cooper! "Hold there you son-of-a-bitch!" he yelled, jumping out from his hiding spot pointing his gun that he had holstered underneath his jacket.

"Look, I don't want any trouble, enough blood has been spilled…" Sly said, not turning around.

"Enough innocent blood, but you! You bastard are going down!" McBride yelled.

He pulled the trigger. Sly jerked his cane slightly and the bullets bounced right off the end. Sly then threw his cane into McBride, whose gun was flung to the floor. Sly charged McBride and threw him against the wall.

"Leave, now!" Sly barked.

McBride kneed Sly in the gut and chopped Sly in the side of the neck, who then fell to the ground next to his cane. He swung his cane around at McBride's feet, sweeping him off them. McBride twisted in mid-air and slammed his face into a granite ledge. He was unconscious before he hit the ground.

* * *

Uh-oh, here comes the thrilling conclusion, and I can tel you, its something you won't see it coming. SO till next time... 


	25. Excessive Measures

V. III

**Excessive Measures**

Sly made sure that McBride was still alive. He never again wanted to spill any blood, neither innocent nor guilty. Satisfied that he only knocked out the egotistical fox, he picked himself up and turned towards his late wife: Carmelita. He fell forward onto his knees so that he was level with her body. Tears filled his eyes.

"You meant the word to me," he said, holding her limp hand. "More than thieving itself. I only wish that things could have gone differently. Tanner would be alive, and so would your cousin. An maybe we would have been able to spend more time together as husband and wife. I had everything planned out for when I would send for you. And now we'll be able spend forever as we had planned it…"

Juan was in outrage. Someone had spotted Cooper entering the cemetery where his daughter was being laid to rest. He had already assembled a team at Interpol, and now he was going to bring on some payback.

"Cooper, I'll be sure to send as a punching bag for Tybalt," he seethed as he sat back in the passenger side of the van.

Sly shifted his gaze to his hand as it pulled out the vial. What he didn't notice was the faint twitch of Carmelita's hand. He set the vial down and continued. Suddenly he pulled her head up against his neck as he cried.

"Why did this happen? How could this have happened to you?" he sobbed.

He gently laid her back down. This time, she faintly nodded her head, but Sly was too blurry-eyed to notice. Quickly, he wiped away his tears.

"But now, we'll be together like we hoped…"

He gently put his lips on hers for a final kiss and closed his eyes. That was when Sly realized something was drastically different. He felt an arm loop up around his neck, making the kiss even deeper. When he finally pulled back and opened his eyes, he saw his lovely Carmelita looking at him with a smile of relief.

"Oh god," he sobbed. "I thought you were dead!"

"Sh-sh-sh," she soothed as she embraced him. "I'm okay."

It took Sly a few minutes to finally grasp the reality of what was happening and compose himself. He started to help her on to her feet when a gunshot rang out, and Sly drooped to his knees, a red stain on his back growing ever bigger.

The gang heard the noise as well. Immediately they began to panic.

"Sly bro Swiss cheese!" Dimitri said.

"Oh man," Bentley said. "It's not forty-eight hours yet…"

Carmelita jumped to her feet, Sly turning around in shock and pain. Before them was a group of Interpol's finest armed with Clarion's. At the head of them was Juan. He was the one who spilt first blood. One officer was helping up McBride, whom had regain consciousness and was fighting to keep it. Two officer swooped out from the side. Carmelita and Sly didn't see it coming. One officer grabbed Carmelita and jerked her away while the other slammed the stock into the side of Sly's head, stunning him long enough for the officer to help drag Carmelita away. But Sly pulled himself to his feet and tried to go after her, but an overly angry Juan pulled the trigger of his SIG P220 pistol. This time the bullet lodged itself in Sly's leg.

Sly gave out a yelp in pain and Carmelita screamed in protest.

"Get her out of here!" Juan yelled.

Carmelita tried to fight off the officers that were dragging her towards the entrance. Sly once again tried to go after her, but another bullet tore through his thigh. Juan fired again, this bullet entering his target's torso. Sly was overcome by this last bullet and collapsed to the floor, a pool of red slowly expanding as he tried to make a crawl.

"NO!" Camrelita screamed, finally breaking free from her captives.

Juan aimed for Sly's head, "Goodbye Sly Cooper," he muttered.

Just then, her daughter got in the way. He pulled back his gun in agitation. He couldn't get a shot off. Every stared in awe as Carmelita helped sly up onto his knees, blood beginning to stain her cloths as she embraced him.

"I love you…" he whispered in her ear.

Everyone saw it. Something materialized in Sly's hand, originating from the pack on his leg. It was a grenade! Everyone satred in horror as it went off.

"CARMELITA!" Juan and McBride both cried in unison, leaping towards the explosion.

Sly and Carmelita instantly disappeared. Hidden by an expanding cloud of smoke. He had used a smoke grenade. After groping through the cloud of blinding smoke, they knew that they were gone. Sly and Carmelita had disappeared.

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Come on! Did you really think I'd kill off those two. Heh heh heh, I'm sure I had a bunch of people going there for a moment. Anyway, if I like what I see when it comes to reviews and such, I'll probably add an aftermath chapter. So come on people, give me a reason! Till next time. 


	26. Aftermath

**Aftermath**

Sly and Carmelita were never seen again for a long time. Though they managed to pull off a Houdini on Mr. Fox and his team of trigger-happy meatheads, they had less luck escaping the quizzical stares and silences of the gang. Carmelita, after knowing the full extent of Sly's situation (i.e. his attempted suicide), she knew he was the right one.

"Son-of-a-bitch!" Sly muttered as Bentley changed a bandage that ran across his neck.

"That bullet missed your jugular by a couple of millimeters, be thankful you can actually feel pain," Bentley sated matter-of-factly.

On the other hand, the rest of the gang was having trouble still taking in the secret marriage of their enemy and their friend.

"Bro? Married? To crazy hot stuff cop?" Dimitri kept muttering.

Gibberish Guru said.

"Well, one things for sure, he certainly found the woman to spend the rest of his life with," Panda answered, he didn't sound as shocked as he really was.

"I just can't believe Bentley would do this without telling me," Penelope pouted. "I love weddings, and besides, we don't keep secrets from each other."

"That explains why he wanted me to report about her to him," Murray said.

Carmelita on the other hand was in lab, watching like a hawk while Sly's bandages were being replaced and his wounds from several days ago being treated. She couldn't help but feel that she had betrayed her family. She had become rebellious against her parents, though her brothers might have an easier time understanding, and for some reason, it felt good.

Bentley on the other hand was still pretty uneasy and nerve-wracked by the past events. He had been nearly out of a good friend. His best friend. While he would've still had Murray, Panda King, and Guru-Dimitri was more of an annoying tagalong-they wouldn't have been able to fill the void that had once been his friend. But now knowing that everything was going to be all right, he was slowly returning to his old self.

Sly had practically lucked out. The one bullet that could've been fatal was one that lodged itself in his neck, and even then he was lucky he didn't end up a quadriplegic. Surprisingly, he managed to recover pretty damn fast.

The gang was rather surmised that Sly had chosen to give up thieving. And surprisingly, they decided to do the same. Of course, they were set for the rest of their natural lives and for several generations thanks to their earnings from the Cooper Vault.

"By the way Sly, just to make sure, I making you wear this heart monitor," Bentley said.

"Is this really necessary?" Sly sarcastically asked, taking off the watch sized monitor.

"Sly Cooper, for your sake you better wear that damn thing!" Bentley demanded.

Suddenly the monitor began a loud fast beeping noise. Sly was very much agitated. "Well, its definitely working," he muttered sarcastically.

"So what?" Carmelita commented, walking up to Sly and putting her arms around his neck. "As long you can…you know…" she whispered.

Suddenly the monitor started up again.

Juan Fox read a letter that he found in the mausoleum. It explained everything. At least with what he had seen. Sly Cooper had married his daughter. And Tybalt was killed in self-defense. Apparently Cooper must have thought Carmelita was really dead, which would explain the vial of poison that he found. After finishing, he reread it another twenty times. Finally, a tiny smirk appeared on his face.

"Hm…" he said to himself. "It appears I have an outlaw for an in-law."

The gang was playing poker in the living room, and began breaking into a conversation about what they planned for their future.

"So what do you plan on doing with your share of the Cooper fortune?" Panda King asked.

"I'm just gonna use it to buy myself a collection of cars," Murray said. "I've already bought a '68 Shelby Mustang ragtop. I'm also investing in my van."

"I'm gonna start my own luxury cruise line," Dimitri said. "As well as a couple of personal super luxury yachts for myself."

gibberish Guru said.

"Wise choice," Panda King said. "I'm not sure what to do with mine. Bentley?"

"Penelope and I are gonna invest in our time machine, build a lab that, with my calculations, should rival at least Fermilab." Bentley said.

"As well as build new RC technology," Penelope finished.

Suddenly there was beeping noise. Everybody looked up from their cards and looked around.

"What in groove is that?" Dimitri asked.

"That's Sly's heart monitor," Bentley answered. "He seemed to have a slight irregularity in his heart rate and slightly high blood pressure so I had him wear that stupid thing."

"Where's Carmelita?" Penelope asked.

"She's with Sly I think," Murray answered absent mindedly, looking back at his cards.

Everyone went back to looking at they're cards. Suddenly they all went bug-eyed and practically screamed in horror and disgust.

"AT LEAST HAVE THE DECENCY OF TURNING THE DAMN THING OFF!" Bentley yelled up towards the ceiling. "THERE ARE OTHER PEOPLE LIVING HERE TOO YOU KNOW!"

**The End**

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Ohman, I just had to put that in! I hope you enjoyed it! Right now I'm working on my next fanfic. 


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